Thursday, October 19, 2017

Burger King Cards -- Part 1 of 2

My collection has a bunch of Burger King cards, most of which are the 1980 Phillies team set.  The earliest Burger King card I have is a single card from the 1979 Topps Burger King Phillies set, Bob Boone. 
1979 and 1980 Topps Burger King cards of Bob Boone.
Unfortunately, there is absolutely no indication on the card that it came from Burger King.  The picture of Boone is the same as the picture in the regular Topps set.  As you can see, I also am including here a picture of Boone's 1980 Topps Burger King Phillies card, mostly because I want to compare the card backs.
The back of the 1979 Boone.
The back of the 1980 Boone.
They improved the design for 1980, because on the 1980 cards, as you can see here, there is at least a Burger King logo on the back.  The only indication that the 1979 is not his regular Topps card is the number -- the 1979 Burger King Boone card has number 2, and his 1979 Topps card is number 90.

Burger King made a number of team sets from 1977 to 1979 (just the Yankees in 1977, the Yankees, Astros, Rangers, and Tigers in 1978, and the Yankees and Phillies in 1979).  Since they don't clearly indicate they're from Burger King, it had been possible that I might have had some Burger King cards mixed up with my regular 1977, 1978, and 1979 cards; I just checked, though, and the Boone is definitely the only such Burger King card I have.
1980 Topps Burger King Pitch, Hit & Run Dave Lopes.
The back of the 1980 Lopes.
I like the 1980 Topps Burger King Pitch, Hit & Run set for being much easier to recognize as Burger King cards.  In addition to having the logo on the front, the back is very different from the standard 1980 Topps back, being red instead of green, and having the Pitch, Hit & Run logo and another Burger King logo instead of the cartoon.  I considered collecting the set recently, but decided there are too many players that I'm not especially interested in.  So, I'll stick with the few cards I have already. 
1980 Topps Burger King Pitch, Hit & Run Jim Palmer.
1980 Topps Burger King Pitch, Hit & Run George Foster.
I'm not sure how I picked up the Lopes, Palmer, and Foster from the Pitch, Hit & Run set.  The Foster is rather beat up, but I'm still happy to have it, of course.
1987 Burger King All-Pro Ozzie Smith and Steve Carlton.
Burger King later produced more cards, but parted ways with Topps and lost the team logos.  These two, of Ozzie Smith and Steve Carlton, are the only cards I have from the Burger King All-Pro series.

I have a second post coming focusing just on the 1980 Burger King Phillies; I am separating that out because I have so many more of those, and because that set serves to commemorate the 1980 Phillies World Series championship team.

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